Ethiopean 787 fire at Heathrow
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: Reading, UK
it wouldn't be the first time that they'd split a hull at a seam, done work, and put it all back together somewhere other than at the factory
Joined: Jul 2009
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
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From: Not far from a big Lake
Reading the tea leaves
I interpret the Flickr picture as follows:
The VS is off the aircraft because it was in the way for some of the structural repair that will occur. The aft scaffolding defines the area that will be receiving significant structural repair along the crown of the fuselage.
Next, They will build a tent over the scaffolding that spans the aft fuselage.
Watch the forward scaffolding and the lower deck of the aft scaffolding for action. That will be the outflow of internal components as the strip out commences. Start your repair stop watch then. What you see now is facilitation.
The total operation is likely phased so that the expensive repair crew spends minimum time on site.
All you sidewalk superintendents pull up a seat.
The VS is off the aircraft because it was in the way for some of the structural repair that will occur. The aft scaffolding defines the area that will be receiving significant structural repair along the crown of the fuselage.
Next, They will build a tent over the scaffolding that spans the aft fuselage.
Watch the forward scaffolding and the lower deck of the aft scaffolding for action. That will be the outflow of internal components as the strip out commences. Start your repair stop watch then. What you see now is facilitation.
The total operation is likely phased so that the expensive repair crew spends minimum time on site.
All you sidewalk superintendents pull up a seat.
Joined: May 2006
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From: Scotland
Originally Posted by superq7
Am not Boeing bashing but the A350 is manufactured using composite panels I would think a lot easier to repair than Boeings barrel construction.
In actual fact, the fire may have been propagated on the A350, as aluminium is a very good heat conductor. Who is to say the fire would not have taken out the whole crown and thus write the thing off?
But, like your suggestion the A350 would be easier to repair, that's idle speculation
Last edited by LiveryMan; 18th October 2013 at 14:52.
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From: UK
An effective repair and back to flight will quieten the noise from the peanut gallery about composites.
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From: London, New York, Paris, Moscow.
Very interesting indeed!
Last edited by glad rag; 18th October 2013 at 18:27.
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From: EDDM
Joined: Jan 2008
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From: Reading, UK
"once the damaged areas are sanded away" - love it !!
Joined: Oct 2007
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From: Here
Unions
Ozlander:-
"The workers are probably union and paid by the hour"
If that was the case I would say good for them. Why would anyone do otherwise?
The tragedy is that in Britain today (and for the last 30 years) workers are getting poorer year by year and bosses (to make it simple) are getting commensurately richer.
The whole British economy is now run on a Pay To Fly basis.
If you do not think that you can get yourself into the top 10% (today about £160k) then I recommend that you leave Britain. The top 10% are presently in the process of rendering the rest of the population destitute.
Because they can.
"The workers are probably union and paid by the hour"
If that was the case I would say good for them. Why would anyone do otherwise?
The tragedy is that in Britain today (and for the last 30 years) workers are getting poorer year by year and bosses (to make it simple) are getting commensurately richer.
The whole British economy is now run on a Pay To Fly basis.
If you do not think that you can get yourself into the top 10% (today about £160k) then I recommend that you leave Britain. The top 10% are presently in the process of rendering the rest of the population destitute.
Because they can.
Last edited by jimjim1; 19th October 2013 at 22:07.
Joined: Dec 2001
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From: what U.S. calls ´old Europe´
An effective repair and back to flight will quieten the noise from the peanut gallery about composites.
Nobody said it would not be possible to repair composites. The remaining question is whether it is economic to do so.
And this event, linked to an incident and an investigation, is probably not representative for the time it requires to do such a repair.
So there will be more noise in the future
Joined: Apr 2009
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From: Oakland, CA
The remaining question is whether it is economic to do so
Every repair is different but airlines are interested in repairs that happen most often - bends and nicks caused by service vehicles at airports. This is where they loose a lot of $$ every year. The repair techniques developed for such repairs in the composite world are multiple time faster than with the aluminium body and some small damages that require repairs on aluminium aircraft will require no repair at all on a 787.
Joined: Jul 2009
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From: Not far from a big Lake
So. Does anyone have some fresh pictures of what is going on?
Have they started stripping out the interior?
You don't have to see into the tent to make an educated guess as to what is going on inside. Just observe the flow of material in and out.
Have they started stripping out the interior?
You don't have to see into the tent to make an educated guess as to what is going on inside. Just observe the flow of material in and out.
Joined: Apr 2009
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From: Oakland, CA
As I'm sure your aware this "incident " hardly comes into said " bends and nicks" category.
Last edited by olasek; 21st October 2013 at 18:57.
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From: UK
Regardless of construction materials I see little similarity between a minor ding caused by a service vehicle and the damage caused by this fire. This has taken 3 months of planning and a fair build up of tents, equipment and materials.
The cost of all this, plus the cost of all the airport space, the repair team and the loss of revenue put this event into an entirely different category, one which will hurt the Insurers, Boeing, Honeywell and Ethiopean.
The cost of all this, plus the cost of all the airport space, the repair team and the loss of revenue put this event into an entirely different category, one which will hurt the Insurers, Boeing, Honeywell and Ethiopean.
Last edited by joy ride; 22nd October 2013 at 07:54.
Joined: Jan 1999
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From: north of barlu
DavereidUK
Your surprise at the comments about " sanding the damaged part away" show your lack of understanding of composite repair techniques, to my surprise and delight it would seem that the composite engineers have won the day and we are not going to see a metalcentric repair if this report is true.
Full marks to Boeing for keeping faith in the composite technology.
Full marks to Boeing for keeping faith in the composite technology.